


For Your Protection

by SharklyRose



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: ANGSTY ANGST ANGST, Betty Cooper Loves Jughead Jones, But we know how this show goes, F/F, F/M, Gen, I honestly love any and all Beronica, I love writing bughead happy too, I want it to end in happiness., I went for a horror film kind of feel, Im a freak for it, Jughead Jones Loves Betty Cooper, M/M, MAJOR MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, Multi, Season 2 Riverdale Fix it Fic, So much angst, This is my very first Fic, it will come :), not sure if it lands, there will be eventual smut, tw: blood and gore, tw: major character death, tw: mental manipulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:40:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23656255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharklyRose/pseuds/SharklyRose
Summary: This is a fix-it fic for Season 2 of Riverdale. (Yes, I know. I am wayyy late. Oh well.) I hope someone out there likes it.Betty has just said all those gross things to Veronica at her party. It starts at her sitting at the bus stop. Angst forever thereafter ensues.Betty will do anything to protect the people she loves.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper & Veronica Lodge
Kudos: 3





	1. What Must Be Done

**♬ ♫** _Lollipop lollipop oh lolli lolli lolli…_

Betty Cooper looks down at her ringing phone before closing her eyes and rolling her head to the side in agony. Dread fills her in response to the sound emanating from it. Her face is sticky from the tears she’s already cried, bits of mascara starting to dissipate underneath her eyes. She looks down at her phone, eyebrows drawing together in grievance.

**♬ ♫** _Lollipop lollipop oh lolli lolli lolli—_

She takes a shaky breath through her teeth as she summons all of her courage, a small whimper escaping her lips. She slides her thumb across the phone to answer the call bringing it to her ear as a new look of composure settles on her face.

Her eyes rolling to the back of her head and eyes closing, she answers, “I did it.” She slowly opens her eyes again feeling a small tear rapidly descend her cheek and another stab in her heart. “But now, I want _my_ question,” she asserts. “What will make you stop?”

“ ** _You._** ” the Black Hood’s garbled responds immediately. “ **As long as you continue showing me your devotion.** ”

Betty’s lips and eyebrows push together in emotional anguish at his words, tears filling her eyes once more. “I can’t keep doing this,” her voice falters as she bows her head allowing for a few silent cries to ripple throughout her being.

“ **I’m sure you can** ,” he allays. “ **Jughead. The son of a Serpent.** ”

Betty breathes in sharply, eyes drawn to the sky as more tears threaten to fill them. “No!” she gasps softly in anguish. Her heart stops.

“ **He’s not worthy of your love.** ”

Her eyes trail down to the ground defeated and hopeless.

“ **Cut him out of your life. Or _I_ will _._** ” _Click._

Betty’s shaky breaths betray her under the faint glow of the bus stop light as one final tear is shed. She feels cold. Numb. She already knows what she must do. She will do anything to protect Jughead. Even if it destroys her to do it. The bus arrives after what feels like an eternal five minutes. Her mind is starting to replay the events of the previous 72 hours over and over again as her body automatically goes through the motions of getting on the bus and taking her seat to stare out of the window. The first phone call. _Why her?_ she thinks. The request to take down her mother rushing to the front of her mind. _Why was her mother a thorn in the Black Hood’s side?_ She remembers the Black Hood’s threats against her sister. _Polly,_ she thought. _It’s not that it was necessarily difficult to betray her mom_ , she considers, _since she didn’t even believe me about the Black Hood’s cipher not to mention the fact that she was acting as a poisonous vessel fueling the Civil War within Riverdale_ , her mind went on. At that thought, her mind shoots back to the conversation she’d had with Jughead earlier that day when they met for lunch at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe. “Like Romeo and Juliet, but we live happily ever after instead?” she had asked him. The shadows of hope she felt at the daydream they painted together filled her mind, muted by the Black Hood’s future request. Another pain shoots through her heart. She squeezes her eyes shut, knitting her eyebrows together, and digging her nails into her palms to bring her a small release from the pain. Then she’s numb again. She keeps her fists closed as her eyes travel down to her lap. The awful, untrue things that she said to Veronica floods her mind, and another tear slides down her face. She steels herself as the bus comes to a stop at the corner of her street. She gets off the bus softly giving her farewell to the bus driver thanking him for the safe travels. Once the bus has pulled away and is out of sight, she heads to the shed. She doesn’t want to look out of place when she enters her home on the off chance that her mother is awake. Once she securely shuts the door, she allows the sobs to come. She knows she can’t steel herself enough right now to deal with any kind of drilling questions. She is mourning the loss of her best friend and what is to come. _Jughead_ , she thinks desperately, _not him. I can’t. I- I just can’t._ Her cries ripple throughout her body and then that voice in her head reasons: _You have to. The Black Hood will_ **kill** _him!_ At the thought of his death her heart stops and a round of sobs rip through her. _Ugh!_ She hates feeling like this. It’s an innate responsiveness embedded in her soul and— She _can’t breathe._ After several moments of Betty trying and failing to hold herself together, her eyebrows pull together in concentration and she takes in a shaky breath. It takes every ounce of effort she has in her to fight the pain from debilitating her. Successfully, she is finally able to slow her breathing trying to focus on the sound of her breath and nothing else. Once she has steadied her breath and mind, she wipes her face with the back of her hand and slowly starts toward the house.


	2. Rear Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Jughead go to the movies. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, it's me, Sharkly!
> 
> Just a heads up: things get pretty messed up and gory in this chapter. If you can't handle it, DON'T read ahead.   
> This is wayy angsty.

She and Jughead are at the Bijou sharing a popcorn and soda watching the infamous Rear Window. As the camera pans across the span of the darkened apartment buildings, he leans over and whispers to her, “Oh! Here we go!” and his face sets into a knowing smirk. Jeff, the main character, hears a disembodied screech and then “DON’T!” Betty glances over at Jughead and smiles to herself. She loves to see him like this; a look of pure content on his face while he shovels handfuls of popcorn into his mouth. He catches her glance and with a mouthful of popcorn asks, “What?” She chuckles softly, leans over to kiss his smiling cheek, and then turns back to focus on the movie with a small smile of her own. The thunder in the film rumbles loudly waking Jeff from his slumber. He finds amusement in watching the neighbors scatter indoors to avoid the rain. Lars Thorwald, one of the neighbors (a traveling salesman with a bedridden wife) usually leaves his house with a large suitcase, but something was off. Thorwald wasn’t wearing the usual white pork pie hat that Betty knows him to wear in the film. He was wearing a black hood. Betty instinctively reaches for Jughead’s arm to be met with only the arm of the theatre seat. Betty turned her head sharply and her eyes widen in shock and confusion at the empty seat and the spilt popcorn bucket that somehow ended up on the ground. She looks around frantically to try to find him whispering loudly, “Jughead? Jughead?!” Scanning the room, she looked over at the screen and stopped dead in her tracks. The man with the hood on the screen was looking at her. She had no idea where Jughead had gone, but every cell in her body was screaming at her to _RUN!_ She decided to listen to her intuition and turned on her heels running for the door and it opened to a boundless hallway with doors on every side. The walls are covered from ceiling to floor in bloody writing that says: **ALL SINNERS MUST BE PUNISHED. ALL SINNERS MUST DIE**. Betty gasps and rushes into the first room on the right, pausing briefly with an outreached hand before turning the knob to go through the door. It led to Veronica’s apartment in the Pembrooke. _The Pembrooke?_ Betty thought bewilderedly. “Veronica?!” she called out. There was no response. She saw the back of Hiram Lodge’s head and the back of Hermione Lodge’s head resting on her husband’s should. “Mr. and Mrs. Lodge…?” Betty asked cautiously slowly walking towards them. She walked around the couch and instantly covered her mouth with her hands in shock a small gasp escaping her lips and eyes wide. Hiram and Hermione’s eyes were gone, dried blood streaked down their faces and their chests had multiple stab wounds. “VERONICA?!” Betty screams for her friend. “VERONICA, ARE YOU HERE?!”

“I’m in here, Betty,” Veronica’s voice wafted from her bedroom. Betty ran towards the sound. “Veronica! Are you oka..” Betty’s sentence trails off and she stops at the sight of her best friend. Veronica is dressed in her long dark cape coat and pearls that she was wearing when Betty met her for the first time. She was crying, her face to the floor and her arms wrapped around her body. When she looked up Betty could see the traces of her mascara . “Betty, how could you?? How could you say all those things to me? We were supposed to be _friends,_ Betty!” Betty’s face contorts with guilt and she stammered, “Veronica, n-no! I-I had to protect you from the Black Hood! He threatened to kill you if I didn’t push you away! I-I had to keep you safe, V!” Betty reached out and grabbed Veronica’s hand. “Please V,” she begged, “Please forgive me.” Veronica looked directly into her eyes and Betty noticed that blood was dripping out of the corner of her mouth. “Why didn’t you catch him? It’s too late, Betty.” Veronica collapsed into Betty’s arms, her head falling to rest on Betty’s right shoulder. “What?! Veronica, what’s wrong??” That’s when Betty noticed the knife 9 inches deep in her back. Betty gently lowered Veronica to the ground as slowly as she could knowing that she couldn’t move her terribly or it would make it worse. “It-It’ll be okay, Veronica, I’m going to get you help!” Betty reaches in her back pocket for her phone to feel nothing in her pockets. Panic starts to settle in her heart and mind. “V-Veronica! Where’s your phone? Hey!” Veronica’s head started to go slack against her shoulder and she gently pulls Veronica’s face towards her and with tears in her eyes begs, “Please Veronica, please stay with me. I need your phone, please just tell me where your phone is so I can call for help..” By the end of her sentence, she was nearly whispering as she watched the light slowly draining out of her eyes. Veronica coughs and blood spills from her mouth. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Veronica please, no, please,” Betty begs through her blurred vision. Veronica’s head goes completely still against Betty’s shoulder. “No, no, no, no, no” with her forehead pressed against Veronica’s, Betty sobs, tears cascading from both eyes. “Betty?” Betty looks up through her blurred vision and makes out her red-headed childhood best friend dressed in his typical t-shirt, football jacket, jeans and sneakers looking at her with distress. “Betty, we have to go! The Black Hood, he has Jughead and….” Archie falls silent at the sight of Veronica’s dead body. “B-Betty...?” She gently laid Veronica all the way down on her side, the knife still sticking out and ran to Archie putting her arms around him sobbing into his neck. “I tried Archie! I tried to save her. But my phone—I’m so sorry, Arch!” she sobbed into his shirt. “B-Betty, we have to go, the Black Hood he has Jug, we have to go,” he cried, and Betty felt him shaking. That’s when her mind caught up to her, “Wait—the Black Hood has Jug?? Archie! Where? We have to go!” He pulls her through the doors which should lead to the hallway. The doors open to their street. It’s surreal. The quiet, empty street looks so peaceful. Archie leads Betty to his house running up the porch steps and calling over his shoulder, “I have to get something, I’ll be right back!” Betty’s eyes widen a little bit. “Archie we should stay together,” she says warily. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up right now.” Archie ignored her and disappeared behind the door. “Archie, wait!” Betty reached out yelling and running into the house after him. The first thing she notices is the glaring silence that has settled throughout the house. Then she sees it. An undiscernible mass on the kitchen floor. She immediately runs into the kitchen and her eyes widen at the horror. She presses her lips together and her eyebrows knit together as a single tear falls. Fred Andrews is on the floor face up with a gunshot in his stomach, his blood pooling around his body. **SINNER** written in his blood across the cabinets. She runs up the stairs to Archie’s room to find him and to her terror Archie was on his floor face down his head bent in an unnatural way, his eyes open frozen forever in his last moments. “ARCHIE!” she screams backing up against the door. She stood there forgetting her feet for what felt like several everlasting moments not knowing what to do or how to move. Her proclivity made her turn the doorknob and start running back down the stairs and out the door. She was finding it extremely hard to breathe again, but she knew she couldn’t stop. _He had Jug!_ She was thinking about where Archie could have possibly been taking her when she saw her house. Her mind stopped. Something in her brain knew she had to go inside. The Lodges. Fred Andrews. _Veronica and Archie._ They all flashed in her mind. Her face assumed a sanguine expression and she reached up to her ponytail to tighten it. _Not Jug._ she thought to herself and opened the door immediately taking in her surroundings. Her mother and father were sitting on the couch. Betty knew better than to look. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, once she knew it was clear, to mourn her family. But she had to go. Jughead could still be alive. He might need help. She heads up the stairs. Peeking into Polly’s room was a mistake. She closes the door softly leaning her head against the door. She blinked, letting a few stray tears fall. Her hand resting on the doorknob, she takes a deep breath then goes to her room with one word on her mind. Jughead is sitting on the floor his back to the wall. One leg bent, foot resting flat on the floor and he looked like he was waiting for someone. He seemed fidgety, which typically meant something was aberrant. “Jughead!” Betty immediately runs to him kneeling beside her bed and pulling out a bobby pin and stripping off the tip. He is so relieved to see her and immediately relaxes in spite of their situation. She opens and bends the bobby into a perpendicular L then pushes the bobby pin into the keyhole in one swift motion. “What happened?” She turns the bobby pin to release the double lock. “Where did you go?? One moment you were next to me, the next you were gone” she worried, turning the bobby pin to release the lock bar, and she slides the single strand out of its socket. “So much has happened Jug…” He pulls his hand back to rub the area where the handcuffs were roughly pressed against his skin. “I went to the bathroom for a second and the Black Hood chloroformed me.” He paused, slowly putting the pieces together in chronological order, “I woke up here about thirty minutes ago,” he says observing her responsive expressions knowing something heinous occurred. “I figured I would just wait until you got home.” He looked at her vehemently. “What happened, Betty?” She knew what was coming before he could finish. She felt it at the back of her eyes first, and she urgently throws herself into his arms. The sobs racked her entire body and he pulled her closer to himself. “Betty…” “Everyone’s dead, Jug.” She felt him still under her body. His hand only paused briefly before softly running up the length of her back to her neck. “Look at me,” he says softly catching her eyes. Everything in her felt comfort. He could see traces of the pain and horror that had etched itself into her psyche; whatever it was she witnessed. He was scared then. “Archie?” he whispered. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “My dad?” Betty blinked and one tear escaped. “I haven’t seen your dad.” He nodded. “Well, let’s get out of here. Let’s go to the sheriff.” Betty nodded, knowing that it is the right thing to do. “Jug, I’m so glad that you’re okay,” she whispers looking away trying to not think of the others and what she knows the Black Hood is capable of doing to him. He brings his free hand to frame her cheek, his fingers grazing her hairline, making her look at him. “I’m okay,” he promises her softly. He leans in to kiss her and she forgets everything: The deaths, the threats, who she is. She instinctually brings both of her hands to frame his face and kisses him back with ardor and passion. Betty becomes rosy with each kiss she butterflies down his neck. She makes her way back up to his lips and pushes her face into his neck and sighed. “Okay, let’s go.” she declares in resignation. She grabs his hand and stops him before they leave to go down the stairs. “It’s going to look like my family is sitting on the couch.” She turns him to face her; she wants to ensure that he understands the gravity of the situation. “Do. Not. Look. At them. Alright?” she’s nearly whispering at the end. He nods, his eyes undoubtedly conveying his understanding. They slowly descend the stairs. She grabs his hand a little tighter and he holds her grasp to let her know that he’s got her. They go out the door and head in the direction of the bus station not letting go of each other’s hand. At the bus station, he holds her close while she leans back and rests her head against his chest utterly exhausted; she knows the night is not even close to being over. She sighs to help her steady her nerves. The bus pulls up and as the doors open, the light inside the bus flickers. Betty stops and points to the inside of the bus. Jughead’s sightline follows to where her finger is pointing: directly at the bus driver. The elderly man from earlier is face down against the steering wheel. He has a pencil sticking out of his right eye socket, blood dripping off of the eraser and onto its frame. Jughead cautiously steps onto the bus trying to shield Betty. He gets a couple of feet in front her when the lights turn off again. Betty’s stomach drops and she runs forward instinctively trying to catch Jughead when she trips on something. _The steps._ she figures. As she’s trying to figure out how to get up in the dark, she grabs onto something solid which she hopes is the seat. The lights suddenly flicker back on. She was pulling herself up when her brain fully registers what she is bracing herself on. It was her best friend Kevin Keller. Shot in between the eyes. Her eyes widen in horror and she looks around. Next to Kevin was her newly realized cousin, Cheryl Blossom. Her eyes started to fill with panicked tears as her eyes trailed up and down the aisle of bus seats. Moose Mason, Reggie Mantle, Midge Klump, The Pussycats: Josie McCoy, Melody Valentine, and Valerie Brown. Ethel Muggs. Dilton Doiley, Ben Button. Chuck Clayton. Everyone in her class. Shot in the head. “Betty!” Jughead yelped. Betty sucked in the breath she was letting out. The Black Hood had Jughead by the throat with a long dagger.

**I told you. The son of a Serpent is not worthy of your love.**

His voice is exactly the same as it is on the phone which disturbs Betty to her core. Her eyes are trained on the trickle of blood sliding down Jughead’s neck—“Please! No! You want me. You don’t have to hurt him! Let him go and I’m all yours!” she begs. “No Be—” The Black Hood digs the knife deeper into his throat. “NO. Please!”

The Black Hood looks her directly in the eye at her words. A cold wave of fear rolls over her body, heart stuttering, but she doesn’t dare break eye contact. Nothing but the words _How can I keep him focused on me?_ running through her head.

**You didn’t cut him out of your life. I told you what would happen.**

As his tongue hit the top of his mouth briefly prolonging the ‘n’ sound, he dug the knife deep into Jughead’s throat and slashed his neck from ear to ear, blood gushing ubiquitously. He slumps to the ground and Betty is frozen, eyes wide and blood draining from her face.

**Now I don’t have to share you.**

The Black Hood callously steps over her boyfriend’s lifeless body and deliberately walks past all of the dead bodies. He passes Betty haughtily motioning for her in such a way which implies she is meant to follow him to the door. She runs straight to Jughead seeing nothing but him. She tries to cover the gash while tears are helplessly falling down her face. _No, no, no. Jug. I_ need _you. Jughead! No, no, no, no. I love you. I can’t lose you. Please,_ her heart begs. She knows that the Black Hood is calling after her, but she can’t hear him. Just a distant sound that’s getting louder and louder behind her. Everything seems warbled until—

**BETTY!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave me a comment ;)


	3. What Must Be Done Pt. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Archie talk about why she went off on Veronica. Plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a filler chapter. I will not be covering the entire show in this way, because blegh could you imagine?   
> Things I plan to hit thus far: Beronica and a little bit of Kevin angst then reunion, and Bughead reunion (since we were robbed) are the main two I have planned for this fix-it fic. I am rewatching the show, so more to come.

Betty shoots up in bed looking around panicked and breathing heavily. Once she settles into her surroundings, she realizes she is dehydrated and exhausted. Nightmares of her friend’s and family’s deaths waking her up at 4:34 am definitely wasn’t helping. She sighs. She doesn’t want to go back to sleep. The unspeakable images conjured by her subconscious flash to the forefront of her mind. In an instant, all of the grief she felt in those hypnagogic moments flood her veins. She moves to her window wrapping her arms around her body, pulling her knees to her chest, both feet flat on her alcove. She rests her head against her arm turning it to face the window. She allows herself to cry gently to herself for about 10 minutes to try and help alleviate the shock that’s settled in her veins. She had to figure out her day. She knows that her nightmares are only nightmares, but the vivid realism and the severe emotions she felt as a result of them couldn’t be so easily forgotten. She knew that all of that could be a possibility if she weren't to take his threats seriously. _But how could I possibly leave him? There’s no way he would believe me. That I didn’t love him anymore. He will see right through me and try to stop me._ Flashes of his bloodied, uninhabited corpse abruptly bursts across the front of her mind.

She tried to picture what she could say to him which led her to consider what he would then respond with. Each scenario that composed itself in her mind ended one way. She felt ill. She got ready for the day. She throws on her thin, white scoop neck sweater, typical skinny jeans, and brown ankle boots. She couldn’t care less about her hair and makeup. She quickly puts her hair into a low bun at the base of her skull and laughs at her reflection in the mirror. Even after washing her face and trying to do damage control, she still looked just as she felt. _It is useless to care_ , she thinks. Shrugging on her pea coat, she decides to walk to school. It is still dark. Her street looks exactly the same as it had in her dream. A shudder creeps slowly up her spine and spreads throughout her body. Her grip tightens around her backpack as soon as she draped it over her left shoulder. She had to figure this out. None of the scenarios she was running through her mind seemed even remotely okay to her.

She locked the door behind her as she left and swiftly went down the steps leading away from the house. She stopped abruptly at the sight of Archie’s house. _Archie._ Her heart squeezed at the haunting remnant feelings the memory of nightmares recall. She automatically pushes those feelings away. Her focus turns back to weighing various possible solutions to her problems adding some new considerations into the pile from time to time along the way. She figures out exactly what she wants to as soon as her fingertips touch the door that leads into the school. She was pretty proud that she was able to distract herself enough for the short span of her trip to the school. She knew that tears were going to come either way. By the end of the day, _I will have broken Jughead’s heart_ , she sighs to herself, eyes drifting to the hallway floor.

She stops at her locker to get her books for her first round of classes, shoving them into her bag and keeping her eyes down purposefully to avoid their Homecoming picture which is glaring at her from the locker wall. Her vision was already starting to blur, but Betty Cooper could not find it in herself to give a single fuck about it anymore. She softly shut her locker and turned to go to the Blue and Gold. The wonderful memory of the Blue and Gold’s founding fluttered across her mind and she blinked, ignoring the lone tear that fell effortlessly from her eye. She turned the doorknob and went into the dark room, setting her bag on the floor next to her desk. She felt at home. She simply sat there.

As time slowly passed, she begins to remember the terrible nightmare less and less while the weight of what she was going to have to do begins to upset her more and more. The tears began to softly flow. What all of this _meant_ beginning to set into reality within her mind. She crosses her arms over her chest, one clutching at the base of her neck, the other at the opposite shoulder to hold herself together. She was shocked at the pain she was feeling. It felt as if something was slowly cutting her heart out of her chest. She let the cries go until she felt numb. She decides to try and be productive. She automatically goes through the motions of doing her homework, a tear occasionally falling when she fails to stay focused on it.

The light of the new day starts to peek through the semi-opened blinds. She gave up on the homework after a short time deciding to open the blinds to let a little more light in. Betty sits at her desk numbly fiddling around with her pencil and resting her forehead forlornly on two knuckles that poke out a few centimeters from her fist, eyes far away. Archie opens the door and enters the office.

“What the hell was that last night?” he demanded walking straight to her. Betty’s eyes immediately look down, her eyes almost closing. In that split second, the words: _Let’s get this over with._ pop into her mind. “Betty?” he questions expectantly.

She brings her hand down to mess with something unimportant on her desk. She kept her eyes down and her voice even when she spoke her next few words. “I lied to you.” A tear slides down her face before she explains further, and she ever so slightly gulps. Her eyes instantly shift upward to look him directly in the eye and she briefly pauses holding his gaze. She looks back down as soon as she begins speaking again.

“When you asked me if the Black Hood had called again.” She meets his eye once more. Nodding, she confirms, “He did.” She sighs heavily slightly shaking her head and continues. Her face unintentionally winces at the words coming out of her mouth, “And he told me to cut Veronica out of my life or he’d...” Archie shuts his eyes at her implications. She looks back down away from him again, “and now he wants me to do the same with Jug.” She looks back up at him at the end of her sentence as her voice breaks and the pain she feels in that moment flashes across her face. It briefly betrays the true feelings behind her words.

“Betty, why didn’t you tell me?!” Archie asks her indignantly.

“Because I knew you’d try to talk me out of it!” she shoots back at him defending her reasoning for doing what she thought would protect her best friend. Her eyebrows pull together, and her eyes beg him to hear her out.

His eyes set in a knowing determination and he replies with a single nod saying simply, “You’re right. It’s my mistake.” Eyebrows raising in absolution, he begins to dial some numbers on his phone and head towards the door.

Her eyes catch the motion. _What is he going to do?!_ Betty gets up urgently to follow him. “Archie, put the phone down!” She reaches out to push the phone out of his hands. “Put the phone _down_!” she urges, volume increasing in lockstep with her panic. She locks eyes with him, tears brimming at her lower lids. “ _Listen_ to me.” she implores desperately. “He hasn’t attacked or killed…,” she takes a quick breath looking to the side and making an ‘all’ gesture with her hands, “ _anyone_ since we started talking. I—I think this is” her left hand rests on her hip and the other hand moves up to wipe away the remnants of the tears left on her cheek with the pads of her fingertips, “ _distracting_ him—” she gestures, trying to argue in her desperation, then dropping her hand to her side.

“Betty, he’s _torturing_ you,” Archie reasons wishing for her to hear herself. She brings both her arms up to wrap them around herself while she listens. “Making you hurt your mom, Veronica, now _Jughead?_ ” he questions her as his eyebrows pull together in confusion at her logic. “How are you gonna put him and _yourself_ through that?” She looks away at his words.

She wipes away anything left of the tears oh her cheek with her left hand and wraps her arms around herself again this time turning to face away from him. She looks down at her feet, sniffles, and kicks at nothing. Tilting her head, hardly looking in his direction, and speaking just above a whisper she responds, “I was hoping maybe you would do it...” Her eyes look far away at something invisible on the floor.

He looks at her incredulously. “What,” he deadpans. She faces him, fresh tears littering her cheeks. She continues slightly shaking her head, trying to reason with herself as well as him, as she spoke, “Maybe you could tell him that we just need to s-s-stay away from each other for a while...” Archie looks taken aback and lets out a frustrated sigh. “Something— _anything_ —to just keep him away… to appease the Black Hood,” Betty cries, her voice cracking at the end.

Archie shakes his head in objection. Rubbing his forehead he pleads, “Betty—” “It doesn’t have to be cruel, Arch,” she begs him, “…just enough to make Jug believe it,” she adds nodding at him. He is pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration and uncertainty about what to do. He makes sure to avoid her gaze.

Betty shakes her head with certainty at his response. “We can walk it back later,” she tries to assure him, the sound of her mewl offsetting her words. “You mean, you _hope_ we can” he responds consciously catching her eye. “No.” she states, emphatically nodding her head. “We. _Can_.” she states assuredly as a tear falls from her face. “And we will.” She pauses, her eyes exploring his. “Please, Arch..” she begs. The look she gives is pleading and nearly hopeless. “Don’t quit on me now.”

After a long pause, Archie nods his agreement to help her break his proclaimed brother’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you feel so inclined. :)


End file.
